Towels and similar articles are frequently employed by individuals for a variety of purposes, most notably including removing water from the surface of an individual's body following, for example, showering, bathing, swimming, using a hot tub, or other bodily contact with water. Individuals that take a shower, bathe in a tub, etc. generally used a towel to dry off. The towel is generally located on a wall mounted towel rack or on some other location in close proximity to the shower, tub, etc.
An unpleasant or undesirable complication associated with bathing and/or relaxing in a shower, tub, etc. is that once the individual exits the shower, tub etc., the individual is exposed to a colder ambient environment due to the disparity between the ambient temperature of a bathroom, tub room, etc. and the temperature of the water used for showering, bathing, soaking etc. For instance, an individual typically takes a shower at a water temperature that is higher than normal body temperature (e.g., 98.2° F.) so that the water feels warm to the skin. The ambient temperature of the bathroom is typically about 60-80° F. As such, when the individual exits the shower stall, the skin of the individual is immediately exposed to a significant temperature drop, which can be uncomfortable for many individuals. The water on the skin surface also acts as a good heat conductor, thereby increasing the rate at which the outer surface of the skin is cooled, thus increasing the level of discomfort to some individuals. As such, most individuals, upon exiting the shower, quickly grab a towel and dry their skin as fast as possible. The towel also functions as an insulator from the cooler ambient air. Consequently, many individuals wrap a towel over their hair and/or about portions of their body to keep their body warmer.
Although the rapid drying of the individual after showering, bathing, soaking, etc. reduces the discomfort many individuals experience when exiting a shower, tub, etc., the temperature of the towel on the skin when drying off and/or wrapping the towel over their hair and/or about portions of their body can still cause some discomfort to the individual due to the temperature of the towel. During showering, bathing, soaking, etc., the towel is left exposed to the ambient temperature of the bathroom, tub house, etc., thus causing the towel to have the same or similar temperature as the ambient air. Consequently, the cooler towel surface when contacting the wet skin surface of an individual can cause some discomfort to the individual. Some individuals have attempted to overcome this problem by heating the towel prior to using the towel for drying. By heating the towel, the temperature of the towel is elevated above ambient temperature thereby minimizing or overcome the discomfort of using the towel after exiting the shower, tub, etc.
A variety of towel warming devices have been commercially developed and offered to the public. Although several types of towel heating devices are known, these towel heating devices suffer from one or more disadvantages. For example, many of these towel warming devices require invasive structural modifications to accommodate the towel warming device, leading to undesired expense and cosmetic alteration of a bathroom. In addition, many of these towel warming devices are very expensive, thus only used commercially or by a small portion of the population. Furthermore, many of these towel warming devices are not portable, take a significant amount of time to proper heat the towel and/or use a significant amount of energy to heat the towel.
In view of the state of the prior art of towel warming devices, there is a need for a portable, low-cost towel warming device that quickly and efficiently warm towel and/or other textiles.